Mayoral Proclamation in Honor of Lt. Scotty Richards who passed away on May 20th, 2017 after a long battle with cancer. He served with the Gaffney Fire Department since 2002. He will be greatly missed.

The Gaffney Fire Department is a paid department with 33 full time suppression staff, 10 part-time suppression staff and 3 administrative staff. The Gaffney Fire Department operates 4 Engines, 1 Tower, 1 Rescue and 1 Hazmat Unit protecting approximately 25,000 residents of the Greater City Of Gaffney Area. All firefighters are trained to the NFPA level of Firefighter II, Hazardous Materials Technician and Medical First Responder. We staff three of our four fire stations with one engine company each while the main station splits duty as an engine and ladder company and also a staffed rescue company. We also have a reserve engine and three support vehicles.

Our district is made up of a mixture of residential, commercial and industrial facilities, including approximately 10 miles of Interstate 85, a major route of travel between Washington D.C. and Atlanta, GA; 10 miles of Plantation and Williams petroleum pipelines; 12 miles of railroad with 26 freight and passenger trains each day, and two power generation plants located along Broad River. In 2015, the four Gaffney Fire Department stations responded to over 1,850 calls for fire, rescue and medical assistance.

There are Traditions that deserve our attention. Some need to be learned and others need to be ended. Our greatest Tradition is that it is the duty of each individual to do all that he can to learn as much as he can, to work as hard as he can, and to live safely as long as he can in order to do the greatest possible good. Dedicated, caring service to others is a Tradition that never goes out of style.